In Spanish, he asked the Shriners Hospitals for Children patient what she wanted to put into the folder, which they pretended was a briefcase as a part of the hospital's "medical play" activity.

Aylin, who is a patient in the orthopedic department and has a cast on her left leg, wanted a bandage, a syringe and a heart monitor.

"Si," Malagon said, and the items were taped in just how the youngster wanted them.

Malagon is one of 24 San Joaquin County high school students in the San Joaquin Medical Society's Decision Medicine program.

The group on Friday received a special tour at Shriners hospital in Sacramento - ranked among the top 22 children's hospitals in the nation - that included a presentation from chief of orthopedic surgery Dr. Michelle James; a look inside the prosthetics lab, where artificial limbs and braces are made; an explanation on the Shriners school classroom; and an interactive session with a group of patients who are prescribed the playtime by their doctors.

Shriners' patients are mostly burn victims or are in need of prosthetic limbs. Some need orthopedic surgeries to help with birth defects or trauma from accidents, spokeswoman Catherine Curran said. The hospital would not release further information on the patient conditions, citing HIPPA privacy laws.

Decision Medicine - a program designed to encourage a diverse cross section of the county's top students interested in becoming doctors to eventually come back to the Valley to practice - appeared to be inspired.

"It's just - I love seeing kids smile," said Sydnie Spore, 16, a senior at Stockton Unified Health Careers Academy. "I want to be a pediatrician, but being here today, it's really inspirational to think about being a doctor that works with kids this way instead of in a private practice or something like that."

Others in Decision Medicine felt they could relate, at least in a small way, to the children they engaged with in medical play on Friday.

Malagon was born in Guanjuato, Mexico, just over 16 years ago, a premature delivery.

For the Stockton Early College Academy senior, that meant health complications and many hospital stays as a young child. It meant treatments and checkups that he can still recall to make sure his growth was normal both on the inside and out.

"Because of that, I know what it's like, and because I grew up in Mexico, I know that some people don't have great access to medical care," Malagon said.

That's why he wants to be a doctor - to have the opportunity to help people who might otherwise have no medical care.

Others in the program have also decided that medicine is right for them in part because of personal experience. As they made the "doctor bags" and worked to make doll patients for the children, they reflected on why they want to be doctors.

Ashley Angel, 17, is going to be a senior this fall at Lodi High. She said she was raised by her parents to want to help people and to strive to be selfless. When she lost her mother to breast cancer a few years ago, she knew for sure the career she wanted.

"I have thought about oncology. I really feel like I want to help people - even if it's just giving them advice on how to deal with a loss," Angel said. "Today at Shriners is inspiring. I've never really thought about pediatrics - but just seeing the effort they put in to make people better, ... it's really just an act of human kindness."

Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 546-8257 or kreid@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/edublog and on Twitter @KReidme.